ਗੁਣ ਗੋਬਿੰਦ ਨ ਜਾਣੀਅਹਿ ਮਾਇ ॥
gun gobind na jaanee-ahi maa-ay.
Who can know the Glorious Praises of the Lord of the Universe, O mother?
ਅਣਡੀਠਾ ਕਿਛੁ ਕਹਣੁ ਨ ਜਾਇ ॥
andeethaa kichh kahan na jaa-ay.
Without seeing Him, we cannot say anything about Him.
ਕਿਆ ਕਰਿ ਆਖਿ ਵਖਾਣੀਐ ਮਾਇ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥
ki-aa kar aakh vakhaanee-ai maa-ay. ||1|| rahaa-o.
How can anyone speak and describe Him, O mother? ||1||Pause||
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Who can know the wonders of the Lord of the World, O mother?
Without seeing the One, nothing can be said.
How can anyone speak of the One and describe it, O mother?
Some things are too vast to squeeze into words.
The wonders of the One are too vast to know or to put into words.
This is the rahaa-o, the "pause" line, the center of the shabad, spoken to a mother, maa-ay. Gun gobind na jaaneeahi: who can know all the wonders of Gobind, the Lord of the World? AndeeThaa kichh kahan na jaa-ay: what has not been seen cannot be described. Think of trying to tell someone what the ocean is like when neither of you has ever seen it.
A Question to Sit With
What is something so big or beautiful that words could not capture it?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI
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